Major terror plot foiled; 2 LeT agents held

New Delhi: A major terror attack was foiled on Tuesday in the capital with security agencies arresting two Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives who had planned to
trigger explosions in crowded localities in the next few days.

Police said the attacks were "very imminent" and both the
arrested, whose identity was withheld, were Indian citizens,
one of whom was trained in Pakistan in bomb-making and using
weapons.

"It is a very important breakthrough," Home Minister P
Chidambaram told reporters today while complimenting security
agencies.

Giving only brief details about the case as operation was
still continuing to nab more terrorists of the module, Delhi
Police Commissioner B K Gupta said the duo were apprehended
from Tughlaqabad Extension in south Delhi yesterday following
inputs from central intelligence agencies and cooperation of
police in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

"The arrest of LeT terrorists is a good catch," Gupta
said adding the police has got "valuable evidence" from the
memory card seized from the duo.

The two LeT militants have been identified as Ethisham and Shafaqat.

Investigators have seized a memory card, a matrix (code
language used for communication), mobiles and explosives,
including sulphuric acide, used for making bombs, P N
Aggarwal, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

Sources said five mobile phones were seized from the
accused apart from the memory card which had footages of
terror training camps and fabrication of Improvised Explosive
Devices (IEDs) besides how to fire AK-47s.

However, both Gupta and Aggarwal refused to provide the
names of the arrested saying it could affect the ongoing
operations to arrest "one or two more terrorists in the
module".

They were produced in chambers before Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Smita Garg who sent them to ten day
police custody. Police ensured that the two did not attract
any media attention and used the back door to enter and exit
the court.
Aggarwal said one of the arrested persons has gone to
Pakistan in December 2011 on valid travel documents and
returned last month with a mission to carry out a terror
strike in Delhi in the very near future.

Asked whether the arrested persons were involved in the
recent attack on Israeli embassy car, he said, he did not
think so.

Earlier, Chidambaram said, "there was no VVIP on their
target."

"They were planning to detonate a bomb or more than one
bomb in crowded localities," he said, adding more details
would come after their detailed questioning.

Some more people have been detained in this connection,
he said.
Sources said one of the accused was residing in
Jharkhand`s Hazaribagh, a naxal-dominated area.

When asked whether the module had any links with naxals,
investigators answered in the negative.

"They were staying in a rented accommodation in
Tughlaqabad Extension," the official said.